Update by the Shan Human Rights Foundation
August 26, 2024
Heavy SAC bombardment of Hsipaw kills 19 civilians, injures 19, damages over 110 buildings, including near Chinese pipelines
Heavy SAC airstrikes and shelling against resistance forces advancing into Hsipaw township killed 19 civilians, injured 19 and damaged over 110 buildings, including near China’s oil and gas pipelines, between 19 July and 25 August 2024.
In mid-July, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) troops began seizing villages along the Hsipaw-Mong Yai road. They moved into Hsawng Ke village, about 40 kms southeast of Hsipaw town, then started attacking the SAC base at Hseng Kaew, 20 kms to the east, causing the SAC troops there to withdraw. On July 19, SAC launched an airstrike on Hsawng Ke village, which damaged one school and about 10 houses.
In late July, MNDAA troops started attacking the IB 147 SAC base near Nawng Kaw Long village, 20 kms southeast of Hsipaw town on the Hsipaw-Namlan road. On August 6, a SAC jet fighter dropped bombs on Nawng Kaw temple, killing a monk and a layperson, and injuring another monk. That day, SAC troops also carried out an airstrike on Pang Mert village, 2 kms northeast of Nawng Kaw Long village, injuring a villager.
On August 9, at night, about 500 Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and PDF troops approached Hsipaw town from the north. The same night, SAC troops in the IB 23 base fired shells into Koong Joang village, northeast of the town, killing a woman and a boy.
Early in the morning of August 10, the TNLA and PDF forces began attacking the SAC bases north of the town, as well as SAC troops stationed at the prison and around the town. Later that day, after heavy fighting, all the SAC troops in the town, including at the Hsipaw bridge, retreated to the IB 23 base, and started shelling indiscriminately into the town and surrounding villages.
On August 10 alone, SAC shells killed five civilians and injured four. This included a man killed at Na Loi village and a woman killed at Kyaung Suu village. Both villages lie directly beside China’s oil and gas pipelines. There is a pipeline control station in Kyaung Suu village.
On August 11, SAC began launching airstrikes on Hsipaw town. Bombing of Myolae Shwecedi temple in the centre of the town injured a monk, a nun and another woman. Bombing of Ta Bok village, on the northeast edge of the town killed a man and injured two other civilians.
From August 12 to 19, SAC continued relentless air and artillery attacks in Hsipaw town and surrounding villages, inflicting further civilian casualties and damaging scores of buildings. Airstrikes on August 14, 15 and 19 damaged buildings in Na Loi and Kyaung Suu villages next to the Chinese pipelines – including a factory petrol storage tank at Kyaung Suu which caught fire only 250 meters from the pipeline control station.
Meanwhile, on August 12 and 13, SAC LIB 506 troops based at Namlan indiscriminately shelled into Na Mark Khaw village even though there was no fighting there. The shells damaged three houses.
On August 16 at noon, shells fired from the SAC LIB 506 base landed in Kawng Lang quarter, Namlan town, damaging two houses, even though there was no fighting at the time. That day at around 5 pm, there was also a SAC airstrike on Na Hai village, south of Namlan town, injuring a woman who later died at Namlan hospital.
Details of SAC airstrike on Nawng Kaw Temple killing a monk and elderly woman, injuring another monk
On August 6, a SAC airstrike on Nawng Kaw temple, about 20 kms southeast of Hsipaw town, killed a monk and an elderly woman, and seriously injured another monk.
Nawng Kaw temple, renowned for its scenic lakeside location, is situated about 1 km from the SAC IB 147 base, which had been under attack by the MNDAA since the last week of July.
At around 4 pm on August 6, a SAC jet fighter dropped bombs directly on Nawng Kaw temple. The bombs damaged several temple buildings, including a pavilion built on the lake, and killed a 54-year-old monk called Sao Nandicena and an elderly woman called Ba Aung, and seriously injured another monk. The injured monk was sent to Namlan hospital.
At the time of the bombing, the two monks and Ba Aung (the mother of the injured monk) were the only civilians staying at the temple, as most residents of Nawng Kaw and nearby villages had already fled in fear of airstrikes, taking refuge in Na Mark Khaw, Namlan, Mong Kher and other places.
The corpse of Sao Nandicena was cremated by local villagers at Nawng Kaw temple on August 7, 2024, at around midday.
On August 22, the MNDAA seized the IB 147 base.
Contact:
Sai Hor Hseng 66 99 246 5673/ 66 94 728 6696 Signal (Shan, English)
Ying Leng Harn 66 99 289 6080 Signal (Burmese)
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